


Murder Mansion

by AgentSprings



Series: Murder Series [2]
Category: Funhaus (Video Blogging RPF), Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF, Sugar Pine 7 RPF, The Creatures | Cow Chop RPF
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Character Death, F/F, F/M, Fake AH Crew, Fake Chop, FakeHaus, Immortal Fake AH Crew, Immortal Fake Pine, M/M, Multi, Murder Mystery, There is a lot going on, if i need to tag anything let me know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-01-04 21:09:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21204146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentSprings/pseuds/AgentSprings
Summary: After the infamous introduction of Fake Chop into the world of immortality, Geoff collects his whole syndicate for a long-needed get-together. But nothing goes as planned.





	1. It Begins Again

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a sequel of my fic Murder Cabin that I wrote a while ago if you haven't read it I highly encourage you to read it!

It was three months after the nightmare of Fake Chop’s entrance into immortality and Geoff had invited them out into the woods again.

“Fuck no.” James glared at Geoff and Ryan who had come to deliver the invitation.

“Alright I know last time was-“ Geoff started to say.

“The worst thing that ever happened in our lives?” Aleks cut in, standing next to James. 

“It was a little dramatic, but don’t you think it was worth it to gain immortality?”

“Ask us again in about a hundred years.”

“Listen, this time it will be different,” Ryan said, “It’s our annual gathering of the LP Syndicate. The entire syndicate will be there, you won’t be alone or in any danger. We did the same basic thing with any other crew we picked. If you don’t believe me then ask any of them.”

“How long do we have to decide?” Brett asked, finally standing up from his seat on the couch.

“You have until next week, we leave the week after that and we need to know how much food and shit to bring.” Geoff nodded at them before walking out of the warehouse with Ryan at his side.

As soon as they left the crew gathered together in their center sitting area to make their decision.

“Ok, do we trust them?” James asked, looking at his crew. “Raise your hand if it’s a yes.”

Brett, Lindsey, and Alec raised their hands. Aleks and Trevor were glaring at the ground.

“Ok, you three give me your reasons,” James said pointing at Brett, Lindsay, and Alec.

“Because they did give us a special gift, our immortality,” Lindsey said, watching Aleks and Trevor.

“Did they have to traumatize us like this?” Trevor blurted out. “I still remember blowing up and it hurts.”

“But now no matter what happens we won’t lose each other,” Brett said. “No matter what.”

“We have to spend time with them to forgive them, get to know the real them. Not just as the people who killed us.” Alec pointed out, looking up at them.

“I agree with them, but I want to hear your concerns.” James looked at Aleks and Alec.

“I just, the terror isn’t something I can easily forget. Anna and Asher left the city because they couldn’t deal with it. James, you were so pissed when we woke up what the fuck changed?”

“I don’t have to worry about losing you, or Brett, ever again.” 

Aleks groaned and leaned back. Trevor was watching the rest of the crew, and let out a sigh.

“I can live with it, I’d like to meet the rest of the syndicate properly.”

“I’m calling Fake Pine, I’m gonna figure out what they think about all of this.” Aleks stood up and stormed into the office. 

“Give him some space,” Brett said, grabbing James’ arm as he tried to follow him.

“We can call Geoff tomorrow when we’ve reached an agreement.” Lindsey stood up and walked to the front of the warehouse. “Now I’m going to go pick up dinner, any requests?”

“Every fast food place between here and safe house number one.” Trevor said, “I want the whole menu, I’m gonna stress eat my weight.”

“You’ve got it,” Lindsey grabbed Brett’s card. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Alec, Trevor, do you want to come?”

Alec and Trevor jumped up and walked after her, both of them excited to have an excuse to leave the house. Brett leaned back on the couch, watching James as he started to pace around.

“I get why Aleks is mad, I really do. But having them on our side is going to make our eternal lives so much easier.” James dropped back down next to Brett and buried his head in his hands.

“I know, but we have to let him figure it out himself,” Brett wrapped his arm around James’ shoulders and sighed. “Let Fake Pine talk him into it. They went through a very similar experience with their entrance into this crew.”

James relaxed into Brett’s side, the two of them talking about anything but the trauma while they waited for Aleks to come out of the office. After thirty minutes, Aleks came back out and flung himself down next to James.

“Fine, I’m in. Fake Pine told me they’ve heard about this event from Fakehaus. They went last year and apparently it was a lot of fun. Drinking, swimming, gaming, and some friendly competitions to get an idea of the various crews’ strengths.”

“It sounds like a great time,” James said after a second. “We would have fun.”

“Yeah, I know. But I’m not forgiving them this fast. They need to earn it.”

“I get the feeling like they’re going to be trying for the week while we’re with them,” Brett said. “We’re going to be just fine Aleks. We’re going to have a lot of fun, we’re gonna get closer to the Syndicate, and make new alliances.”

“I hate that you’re right,” Aleks dropped his head onto James’ shoulder and closed his eyes. “Fuck I’m hungry.”

“The others are bringing us dinner, every item on every menu at every fast food joint between here and safe house 1,” Brett said, reaching over James to rest his hand on the back of Aleks’ neck.

“We’re gonna eat so much.”

“Ok, we’re gonna turn on some mindless TV show and chill out until they all get here, yeah?” James suggested, reaching forward to grab the remotes. 

Aleks and Brett made noises of agreement, shifting around to put Aleks in the middle and get comfortable. They made it through three episodes before the others came back in, Lindsey moved a table in front of the couch, while Alec and Trevor dragged another couch to sit next to the first one. They all got themselves comfortable and spread out all the food on the table. The next two hours were filled with eating, bonding, and mindless TV.

When they started getting tired, dozing off in their seats they decided to split up for the night. They agreed that tomorrow Brett would call Geoff and let him know that they were in. Aleks, James, and Brett decided to spend the night at Aleks’ apartment, wanting to make sure they’re all on the same page before the next morning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright, this is better than last time.” Trevor stared up at what could only be described as a mansion. 

“Holy shit how fucking big is this place?” James demanded, climbing out of the van after Trevor. “And why the fuck is it that color?”

They all stood in a line and stared at the neon green painted house with black and white accents. The front door was black oak and surrounded by glass windows. The front door was in the center of the house, with two long wings coming out of the sides. There was a tower coming out of the center part of the house.

“It’s so ugly and huge,” Brett said. “It’s exactly what I thought Geoff would make.”

“Hey, guys!” Geoff and Jack came walking out of the front of the house, surprising everyone.

“Hey,” Brett said, recovering first. “This is an ugly ass mansion but it’s better than the last one you sent us to.”

Geoff threw back his head and laughed before looking back at them and grinning. 

“C’mon in.” Jack waved them in, “You’re the second crew to show up, you and the Haus.” 

They all grabbed their bags and followed them up to the house, the glass and oak door opened into a hallway with three archways, two to either side and one directly in front of them. Geoff led them through the arch in front of them, into a large living room with a huge fireplace, couches, and the biggest TV they had ever seen. To their left was a kitchen and breakfast dining room, and out either side was two more archways. Fakehaus and the Fake AH Crew were sprawled out on and around the couches, watching and playing a game of Mario Cart.

“Well if it isn’t our favorite destructive force!” Gavin called to them as they walked in. Aleks grinned and dropped his bags before walking over to them and climbing to sit behind him on the sofa. James rolled his eyes but followed Aleks, standing next to him and leaning on the sofa. 

“For a destructive force, they’ve run more and better cons than you have Golden Boy!” Elyse said, giving Gavin a look from the floor. Lindsey followed the boys over to the couches and sat down next to Elyse and Adam. Trevor hung back a little and watched from a distance, while Brett and Alec walked over to Alfredo, Lawrence, Ryan, and Jon in the kitchen. 

“They may be more successful but I’m more glamorous!”

“They also don’t die nearly as much as you do,” Jeremy pointed out.

“Oh shut up Lil’ J.” Gavin kicked at Jeremy but grinned back at Aleks.

“How dare you imply you’re more glamorous than Lindsey,” Trevor joked, finally waking forward and joining the conversation.

“When Lindsey has solid gold eyeliner with points that can kill she can come talk to me, but until then I am more glamorous than her.” Gavin smiled at Lindsey, who smiled back before leading Alec to join Brett in the kitchen.

“So Mario Kart?” Aleks slipped the controller out of Bruce’s hands while he was distracted by James poking his knee. “Ready to have your asses kicked?”

Everyone focused back on the game, watching Aleks, Gavin, Elyse, Jeremy, Adam, Michael, James, and Peake start the race. Trevor pushed himself up and wandered to the kitchen, starting to feel antsy without being able to see the whole crew. 

“Yeah, that was us.” Brett was talking to Ryan and Jon when Trevor walked up.’

“It felt like a job your crew would do, very clever and built around chaos.” Jon was studying them all with a small smile. “You’re a very distinctive crew.”

“I'll take that as a compliment,” Brett gave him a smile that was more teeth than necessary. “So Ryan, murder any partner crews in cold blood recently?”

Ryan rubbed the back of his neck and gave him a sheepish look. “When Geoff gave us the assignment I thought you knew about immortality.”

“Nope, and even if we did that was a shit thing to do.” Brett wasn’t backing down and after a second Trevor touched his arm.

“So Jon, I read your most recent article. About the different crews.” Trevor was desperately looking for a new topic.

“Oh yeah? That’s one I was actually proud of.” Jon latched onto the change of topic, subtly jabbing Ryan with his elbow.

“I enjoyed your comparison of our controlled chaos and the Fake AH Crew madness.”

“Yeah, I noticed that you all are far less likely to destroy everything in your path for fun. But you’re also not afraid to blow things up when you need to.” 

“Alright!” Everyone was startled when Geoff yelled from the entrance. “Fake Chop, come with me to pick out your rooms for the week.”

Brett, Alec, Trevor, and Lindsey all went to follow him, but Aleks and James stayed at the couch, invested in the race.

“I’ll get us a good room,” Brett called to them, getting a wave from James in response.

“Alright.” Geoff stopped them all in the hallway. “So there's eleven bedrooms on this floor and two upstairs including the master. That one is for Michael, Gavin, Meg, and Lindsay because they needed it. The other room upstairs is free, as well as six of the rooms downstairs. The rooms on the wing next to the dining room are for Ryan and Jon, and me and Jack. I can either show you or you can go explore there are two sets of stairs in either wing. Good luck.”

“Nothing is off-limits?” Alec asked, giving him a look.

“Nope, I trust you all and there's nothing super secret here.”

“Dibs on upstairs,” Brett said before breaking into a dead sprint for the front of the house. 

“No fair!” Trevor called after him, not nearly as fast. Brett made it to the main doors and took a right through one of the archways. He ran through a screening room and through the door on the other side, seeing the stairs by a window. He could still hear Lindsey running after him, so he pushed a little harder and made it up the stairs before she could stop him.

“What the fuck Brett!” He could hear the laughter in her voice and he laughed back at her.

“You snooze you lose!” He called back to her, reaching the top of the stairs and seeing a door with the sign “Bedroom 12” on it. He could hear Lindsey climbing the stairs behind him so he ran for the door. He pushed it open and walked into a huge room. A California King was pressed into the corner across from the door, next to a huge wall of windows and a single glass sliding door. 

“Aw, fuck you, Brett!” Lindsey was standing in the door with her arms crossed, the hint of a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

“I mean if you want to be on the same floor as me, Aleks, and James as we have the first real break in six months then I guess I can go pick a room downstairs.”

“Oh ew Brett, you three can have your sex room up here.” Lindsey rolled her eyes and walked back down the stairs, grumbling about how all the best rooms were probably taken now. Brett walked over to the bed and dropping his jacket on it. The room had the bed, a bookshelf, and a closet but not much else. It was clearly meant to be a room where the centerpiece was the giant deck out the window.

“So, you got us a room on the second floor?” James’ voice suddenly came from the door. “No bathroom in here.”

“It’s out here!” Aleks called from the hallway. Brett and James exchanged a look before poking their heads out. Aleks stepped out of the bathroom and grinned at them. 

“There’s definitely a shower fit for three people in there.”

“Really.” James perked up and went to investigate as Aleks went into the room next to the bathroom. Brett grinned and went to join Aleks in his exploration of the house.

“So this is basically our wing of the house now, we have a study, bedroom, and bathroom. What else do we need!” Aleks pulled a book off a shelf in the study and started flipping through it.

“Food Aleksander.” James poked his head in grinning. “C’mon there’s a walkway over here that overlooks the living room, and connects us to the other wing.”

The three of them continued to explore the second floor, finding the master bedroom, a walkway with two couches pressed to the windows, and the pleasing realization that they were the only ones with access to the deck.

“Hey, assholes!” Geoff yelled from the living room. “Fake Pine and CockBite are here!”

Brett and Aleks looked over the edge of the railing while James started heading for the stairs. Aleks grinned at Brett for a second before climbing over the edge of the railing and lowering himself until he was hanging from the edge with just his fingertips. He glanced down one more time before laughing and letting go, landing directly in front of a startled Cib and behind the rest of the new arrivals.

“Hey man, what’s up?” 

“What the fuck dude, where did you come from?”

“Russia.”

“Oh haha,” Cib rolled his eyes before pulling Aleks into a hug.

“Aleksander! How the fuck did you beat me down here?” James pushed past Cib and stared at Aleks.

“I’m fast man, you’re just slow.”

“Well I know you’re fast but normally you're not so happy about it.” James winked at him before taking turning back to the living room. Before he could take another step Brett dropped down from the loft and landed in front of him, causing him to jump and reach for a gun that wasn’t there.

“Jesus! Oh, you fucking assholes jumped down.” James glared at Brett and lowered his hand from his side. “I hate you both.”

“Nah, you love us,” Aleks laughed at him before walking back over to the couches. The rest of their crew wasn’t in the room, so he sat with Fakehaus.

“Alright, now that Fake Chop has made an entrance and Fake Pine is here you all have an hour to settle in before dinner. I recommend doing that because anyone still in this living room in the next thirty seconds has to help make dinner.” Geoff gave them all a look before lifting up his watch and counting. 

Trevor, Alfredo, Lawrence, and Jeremy all made a break for the archway on the right, while everyone else tried to get back through the small hall to the other wings. Barb and Sami-Jo followed the other four through the wing on the right. Brett and Aleks watched everyone shoving their ways through the hall and Aleks let out a laugh. 

“Up?” Brett asked, already lacing his fingers and bending down. 

“Where else?” Aleks took three steps back before running towards Brett and being launched upwards by him. He caught the railing and held on for a second while Brett jumped up and held onto his legs. Aleks pulled them both up enough so Brett could grab the floor and start pulling himself up. They made it over the railing and glanced back down, seeing Ryan, Jon, Jack, and Geoff staring up at them looking shocked.

“Good luck with dinner!” Aleks called before walking down to their bedroom. Brett laughed at them before following Aleks, making it to their door just as James finished climbing the stairs with their bags.

“I hate you both, and you both owe me so much for abandoning me with the bags.”

“We love you?”

“Fuck off, open the god damn door.” James lugged the bags a few more feet before Brett took his and Aleks’ out of his hands.

“You know we’d never abandon you, we just took a different path.” Brett followed Aleks and James into the bedroom before shutting the door.

“Showing off?” James asked, dropping the bags and flopping face-first onto the bed.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Aleks admitted, sitting down next to him on the bed.

“I think we impressed them,” Brett offered, putting the bags all in front of the closet and sitting on James’ other side.

“Well, you’ll be happy to know that the rest of our crew is settled into rooms. On the other side of the house.” James rolled over and glared at Aleks.

“Probably wanted to be as far away from us as possible,” Brett laughed a little while pulling James back to his chest. “I told Lindsey we were going to be ‘making up for lost time’ since it’s been so long since the three of us all had a vacation together.”

“Oh my god dude, you better be willing to follow up on that because it has been far too long.” Aleks flung himself back dramatically before pouting at him.

“Of course I do, but not right now in the middle of the day. There’s like forty people here.” Brett gave Aleks a look over James. 

“Good, now who wants to explore the grounds?” Aleks popped up from the bed and went to stand by the door.

“Fuck no, I’m taking a nap.” James closed his eyes and pressed back further into Brett’s arms.

“Pussy. Brett?’

“I think I’m supposed to be his pillow.” Brett reached down and gently started pulling James’ hair out of his hair tie.

“You both are lame,” Aleks flopped back down onto the bed, facing both of them. As soon as he settled again Brett laced their fingers together and started tracing patterns on the back of his hand.

“I’m sure we are Aleks.” Brett could hear James’ breath evening out and he let his eyes slip closed.

“Oh fine, I guess we’ll nap like a bunch of old men. Fuck you guys.” Even as Aleks was bitching he scooted closer to them and James pulled him into his arms. 

They all drifted off, one after another, sleeping for the whole hour only to be awoken rudely by Trevor and Lindsey jumping on their bed.

“Wake up you old fucks!” Trevor yelled, landing on top of them and wiggling between James and Aleks. He managed to knee James in the stomach and elbow Aleks in the shoulder before settling between them.

Aleks rolled backward before he fully woke up, landing on the ground and trying to figure out where he was.

“Hey, asshole.” Aleks glanced up and saw Lindsey leaning over the side of the bed. “Geoff says it’s time for dinner.”

“I hate you,” Brett groaned from where he was pressed against the wall. “I’m disbanding the crew.”

“You love us all.” Trevor stood up again and pulled Brett and James up with him. Lindsey leaned over and pulled Aleks up too. 

“C’ mon, Geoff made something that smells amazing for dinner.” Trevor pulled them out of the room James and Brett still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. Aleks groaned before shaking out his head and perking up, throwing his arm around Lindsey’s shoulder.

“They better have coffee too,” Aleks said, following the group down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, they ran into Fake Pine, who were all coming out of their rooms.

“I heard you guys got the second-best room in the house,” Cib fell into step next to Aleks and grinned at him.

“I think we did, where are you?”

“We’re in those two, I think James, Elyse, and Adam are in the one next to us.” Cib pointed at the rooms as they came out of.

“Awesome,” Aleks said, “Mario Kart marathon in the movie room later? Fake Pine vs Fake Chop?”

“You’re on,” Cib said, reaching out and shaking Aleks’ hand with a grin.

They walked into the dining room, following the other crews. Geoff was setting down the last serving platter on one of the two massive tables that took up the whole room.

“Hey everyone! Hope you all settled in alright,” Geoff greeted them all with a huge smile. “You all can sit in any seat, but I encourage you all to sit with the other crews. Get to know each other, we’re all going to be working together a lot in the future. Make a new friend.” 

The crews all split up, sitting down randomly next to people they wanted to know more. Lindsey was sitting with Lindsay, Meg, and Elyse. Alec and Trevor joined Alfredo, Trevor, Jamie, and James. James and Aleks sat down with Burnie, Barb, Geoff, and Steve. Everyone else filled in the extra spaces. The room was quickly filled with loud talking, everyone getting to know each other.

By the time dessert rolled around everyone was getting along like they had always been friends, learning each other's pasts, favorite heists, and what they do for fun. 

“Alright, we have gaming systems in every room there’s a TV,” Jack announced from the top of one of the tables. “We’re going to do a Smash tournament in the main room.”

“We’re going to do a Mario Kart tournament in the television room.” Aleks threw out.

“Perfect! May the best crew win!” Geoff cheered as everyone booked it for the gaming consoles.

Fake Pine and Fake Chop were set up in the television room, half of the Cockbites ended up with them as well as a few members of the Fake AH Crew. There were four TVs in the room and they hooked up each Switch to a different TV before setting it up to the same race. James, Aleks, Brett, Steve, Cib, James, Burnie, Barbara, and Fiona were set up to race while everyone else gathered around to watch.

The rest of the evening past quickly, everyone enjoying the games and growing comfortable with each other as they hung out. Aleks won the tournament, with Fiona coming in second and Steve coming in third. After the tournament, they all split up to either join the Smash tournament or watch or to head to their rooms. 

James, Aleks, and Brett elected to go back to their room to talk before they headed to sleep again.

“I hate to admit it but the Fake AH Crew are one of the most fun crews I’ve ever met. They have the most amazing mansion, the best gaming systems, and they know how to throw a great party,” Aleks said as he dropped down on the bed.

“I agree, I know that they made a bad first impression but they do seem to be trying to make up for it.” Brett stripped down to his boxers before laying down on the bed next to Aleks.

“That doesn’t mean I forgive them, but I don’t hate them anymore.”

“Small steps Aleks.” James crawled into the bed on Brett’s other side, throwing his arm over Brett’s waist.

“We can properly explore the house and grounds tomorrow,” Aleks slid out of bed and stripped down to crawl into the bed with his partners.

“Tomorrow.” Brett and James echoed before they slid into a comfortable silence, drifting off at the same time.


	2. It's Familiar, But Not Too Familiar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is being posted way after I thought I would post it but hey, I had surgery so who can blame me.

Steve woke up squished on his bed between his partners, Cib and James, burning to death between them. He started wiggling out from between them, trying not to wake them up but not trying too hard.

“Steven stop you fucking dick,” James grumbled at him before wrapping an arm tighter around his waist, keeping him there.

“James, I’m going to piss on you if you don’t let me out.”

“Kinky,” Cib wriggled his way up to Steve’s head.

“I fucking hate you both, and if you don’t let me up I’m going to lose my mind.”

“Fine,” James let go of him and rolled over so Steve could get out. Steve climbed out of the bed and left the room. He knew it was still way too early to expect anyone to be up and ready with food, so he wandered towards the living room. As he walked past Jeremy and Parker’s bedroom their door flung open and Parker was standing there.

“Jesus Parker, you scared the fuck out of me.” Steve glared at him for a second before smiling at him. “How did you two settle in?”

“Fine, but we just have a weird feeling about this.”

“What kind of weird?” Steve flopped down on the living room couch, looking over at him. Parker was already pulling out a blunt.

“Just,” Parker looked around the room. “I feel like someone is watching me, all the time.”

“Do you think maybe they have cameras or some shit around the house?”

“I don’t know,” Parker lit the blunt and took a hit.

“Are you smoking weed?” Steve and Parker both jumped when the voice of the Vagabond rang out behind them.

“Uh,” Parker shot a panicked look at Steve.

“No?” Steve said, moving into a more defensive position.

“If you are, that’s fine but we have a specific area for smoking. The smell bothers some people and we try to keep it contained. I can show you guys if you’d like.” Ryan smiled at them, and for the first time, they both realized how non-threatening he looked without his mask on.

“You look like a dad,” Steve blurted out. Ryan blinked at him for a second, before he burst into laughter.

“Why do people keep saying that?” He said between laughter.

“Because you look just like, a soft dad,” Parker said, leaning back in the seat.

“Come on,” Ryan led them out the back door and towards the pool. A few feet away from the pool there were a few tables. Sitting out at the table was Adam from Fakehaus, with a cigarette between his lips.

“Hey Steve, Parker,” Adam greeted, waving his hand at them.

“Hey Adam,” Steve said, while Parker just waved at him.

“Why are so many of us up so fucking early?” Parker asked, dropping down onto the table next to Adam.

“Insomnia, nightmares, sleep schedules are fucked. Take your pick.” Ryan said, sitting down as well.

“Hey Ryan, how many times have you come up here with the crew?”

“Uh, probably eight years now, we come up here once a year.”

“Do you always bring every crew?”

“No, this is a new thing, because it’s the first time the syndicate has been big enough to justify bringing us all up here.”

“Huh, ok.” Steve leaned back against the table and studied the woods around the mansion. He could see a path leading from the pool into the woods and wanted to go explore.

“Hey, bossman!” Cib’s voice came from the house.

“This fucker wouldn’t go back to sleep after you woke him up.” A sleepy James said while he leaned on Cib.

“I got lonely!” Cib yelled.

“Well do you want to go explore with me?” Steve asked, standing up.

“Fuck yes!” Cib let go of James, letting him fall to the ground without even a glance.

“I fucking hate you,” James said from the ground. He laid there for a few moments before he pulled himself to his feet. “Yeah, I could explore.”

“The property is pretty straight forward. That way is the lake, and there are a few extra cabins scattered throughout the property but they’re pretty far away.” Ryan said, pointing at the path.

“Thanks, Ryan,” Cib said, grabbing James’ hand and pulling him towards the path. Cib followed after them quickly. As soon as the four of them walked beyond the view of the cabin they fell into perfect walking sync.

“How are you guys feeling about being here?” Steve asked, grabbing James’ hand.

“I mean, they kidnapped us and put you in a murder maze. They killed everyone in Fake Chop for fun. I don’t know, I don’t know if I trust them yet.” James said.

“Plus this place is super fucking haunted,” Cib pointed out dancing ahead of them on the path.

“Cib what the fuck are you talking about?”

“There’s eyes everywhere.”

“Parker said something just like that earlier,” Steve said before James stopped in the middle of the path jerking Steve to a stop.

“Did, uh, did you see that?” Steve turned to look at James only to see him staring into the woods.

“See what James?” Cib asked, before moving towards the edge of the trees.

“I thought I saw someone moving in the woods.”

“It was probably just the trees,” Steve said before he started pulling James back down the path. James hesitated for a second before he followed Steve down the path. Steve turned the conversation subject to something lighter, trying to keep James’ attention off of the woods.

“Oh, I had the best idea for our next heist.” Steve started. “What if we robbed every Vape Store in the city?”

“I like the way you think,” Cib said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his own vape. James reached out for it silently. Cib handed it over without complaint, showing his worry for him without saying a word.

Within the next five minutes, they made it to the lake, immediately delighted to see a long beach and crystal clear water. The three of them stripped down to their boxers and ran into the unusually warm water. They splashed around until they could see the sun over the tops of the trees when they finally pulled themselves out and laid down on the soft sand. 

“This entire trip is worth it just for this.” Steve stretched out like a cat, warming himself up with the sun.

“I agree,” James was laying on his back, eyes closed and hands behind his head.

“I’m starving,” Cib said, crawling across the ground to James and poking him in the side.

“Can you wait for like, ten minutes?”

“Nope, if I have to wait any more I’m going to chew my own arm off.”

“The worst part is,” Steve said as he flipped himself over and sat up. “I think you might actually do it.”

James groaned at that but sat up as well, the three of them all starting the walk back to the mansion. Cib kept running forward on the path and then doubling back to them as they walked back at a normal pace.

When they finally made it back to the house, everyone was outside. Nearly everyone was swimming around in the pool but Aleks, Alfredo, both Jeremy’s, and Burnie were all spread out between beach chairs and picnic tables. When the three of them walked up they were greeted with a lot of waves and shouts.

“Slaughter Boys! Come join us in the pool!” Geoff called, splashing water at Gavin.

“Only if you feed me first!” Cib called back but was walking towards the pool anyway. Steve walked over to one of the beach chairs while James shadowed CIb.

“There’s breakfast in the kitchen if you want it. There’s just bagels and pastries and shit.” Michael said as he pulled himself up the edge of the pool. As soon as he finished the sentence Cib was running towards the house, James hot on his heels. Steve watched them go with a fond smile before flopping down onto the chair and turning towards Aleks.

“How much sex did the three of you have last night?” Steve asked Aleks. Aleks glared at him before he burst out laughing. 

“None douchebag, we just crashed.”

“Lame,” Steve took a second to study Aleks’ body language. He was still pretty tense around any of the Fake AH Crew but with everyone else, he was relaxed and fun. Steve had been taking his cues from the Fake Chop crew for a while in regards to how to deal with the crime world. Aleks and James had been in the crime world for well over a decade each, starting out when they were just teenagers.

“Hey, Steve,” Aleks’ voice cut through his musings. “Where the fuck did you just go?”

“I was just thinking of your illustrious crime career, you old fuck.”

“Hey,” Brett’s voice came from the pool. “Don’t talk to your father that way.”

Aleks flipped him off before he relaxed back into the chair, looking calmer than he had a minute ago. Steve relaxed as well, deciding if Fake Chop was relaxed he should be. They were far more paranoid than most crews, having been burned individually and as a group before.

Steve closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep. He was rudely awoken a few minutes later when Cib landed on top of him. 

“Bossman! I brought you breakfast.” Cib grinned at him unrepentantly. 

“I fucking hate you,” Steve groaned, shoving him off. James walked up to them a little slower, holding a large mug of steaming coffee in one hand and a plate of pastries in the other.

“Aw but I love you!” Cib said from the ground before he sprang up and ran towards the pool. Steve pulled himself into a sitting position, making grabby hands for the food in James’ hands. James set it all down on the table next to him, before sitting down at the end of his chair to watch everyone around him.

Steve ate everything on the plate and drank the coffee in a way that was far too fast to be considered anything but desperate. He relaxed back onto the chair again before looking around the area. Autumn was relaxing next to Bruce, clearly enjoying some stress-free time with her boyfriend. Ryan was sitting halfway between where Alfredo was and where TreyCo was, his head constantly bouncing between each of them in a way that was still relaxed. James was splashing Trevor with water as they swam.

Steve leaned over to Aleks and poked him to get his attention.

“What's up with those three?” He pointed at Treyco, Alfredo, and Ryan.

“They’re brothers I think, at least that’s what the rumor mill says.”

“Huh, I wouldn’t have guessed that.”

“Yeah, and I think Meg Turney is their sister.”

“So what, their whole crew is related?”

“I feel like this whole syndicate is related somehow. I mean you knew Joel Rubin a while ago, and he worked with Fakehaus. James and I have danced around this syndicate for a while. The Fake AH Crew used to be a part of the Cockbites. It’s why this is one of the strongest syndicates. There’s less chance of backstabbing when you all go way back.”

“I guess that makes sense, but why did they murder you?”

“Some sort of desperate need for entertainment in their immortal lives,” Aleks said before Jeremy Dooley suddenly leaned forward.

“And for the same reason, we abducted you and separated you from your crew. We needed to know if you had the sense of loyalty that we need in a crew. If you had begged for your own life rather than demanded that you got to see your crew. And Fake Chop, you all died for each other, trying to protect each other even when you were in danger.” 

“Cool motive, still fucked up,” Aleks said, giving him an odd look.

“You’re right, but-”

“Nope, no buts. I’m right and you’re fucked up.”

“Alright fine,” Jeremy leaned back with a relaxed smile. Aleks moved his chair a little closer to Steve’s and turned towards him.

“Sometimes I hate their fucked up relationship with death.”

“Yeah, me too.” Steve glanced around the pool area again, checking on his crew. “Oh hey, I meant to ask you something.”

“What’s up?”

“How are you feeling being here? Like, have you noticed anything weird?”

“Not really, just the weirdness of the Fake AH Crew.” Aleks gave him a searching look.

“Yeah, me too,” Steve said quickly, trying hard to appear relaxed. Aleks studied him for another few minutes before turning back in the chair to sit up.

“Hey, James!” He yelled. “Come put more sunscreen on me!”

“Do it yourself!” James yelled back, even as he climbed out of the pool and walked towards him. 

Steve watched them interact for a few minutes before he turned back to see James watching them. The two of them exchanged a heated look before Steve groaned and stood up.

“I have an announcement!” He yelled, getting everyone’s attention. Everyone went quiet and turned to look at him. “We have too many James’ in our group, as well as Two Trevor’s, Jeremy’s, and Lindseys. We need nicknames we’re all going to agree on to refer to them all.”

Everyone looked at him before James from Fake Chop threw his arm up and yelled out “Nova!”

“Jamie!” Fake Pines's favorite contractor yelled.

“Angel!” Steve’s James said.

“You all already call me Ryan.”

“Can I be GunShow?” James Willems asked. 

“Alright, that’s the James’ taken care of. Trevors?”

“Y’all can just call me Trey Co.”

“I just wanna be Trevor.”

“You guys could call me Bot?” Lindsey from Fake Chop said.

“I’m Linds if you want.” 

“LIIIIIIL’ J!!!!” Jeremy from AH called.

“Jeremy.”

“Ok, now I can rest easy thank you guys!” Steve gave a little bow before dropping back down onto his chair. Everyone went back to what they were doing but Steve noticed that Geoff was watching him with interest. After a few moments, Geoff climbed out of the pool and moved towards them.

“Well Steve, that was very clever.”

“Thanks, Ramsey,” Steve looked at him with false calm.

“I wanted to apologize for what we did to you,” Geoff looked suddenly extremely sheepish as he looked between both him and Aleks. “You didn’t deserve that, and I think we sometimes forget that anyone younger than us wouldn’t be as casual with death or kidnappings.” 

“I accept your apology,” Aleks studied him for a second. “But you all aren’t forgiven yet. I need you guys to grovel at least a little more.”

“What he said!”

“Fair enough.” Geoff accepted this with a graceful nod before he turned and walked away.

Steve and Aleks exchanged a glance before they shared a nod. Aleks relaxed back into his seat, closing his eyes and clearly done conversing for a while. Steve rolled off of his seat before he stood up and walked into the house. He was still covered in dirt, sand, and lake water and he just wanted to take a long hot shower.

He walked inside to the sounds of laughter and talking behind them, trying to convince himself to relax. He made his way to his bathroom, stopping in his bedroom to grab a change of clothes. As Steve walked into the bathroom he got the worst sensation of being watched, bad enough that he stopped where he was and spun in a circle looking for someone. There was nothing out of the ordinary in the hallway, but Steve couldn’t shake the sensation even after he went into the bathroom.

By the time Steve finished his shower he had forgotten all about it and the only thing he was thinking of now was lunch, which he was more than excited for. Steve walked into the kitchen to see Jon and Ryan talking quietly in the kitchen, Jon looking concerned and Ryan’s back was far too tense for this to be a normal conversation.

“Everything ok?” Steve asked, staying in the doorway. Jon looked up while Ryan whirled around, both of them relaxing when they saw him.

“Yeah, it’s just. Well, one of my knives is missing and I don’t know where it is.” Ryan admitted, trying to downplay how much it bothered him.

“How did you lose a knife?”

“I’m not sure, I know I cleaned it and put it away last night but this morning it was gone.”

“I’m trying to convince him that the lads took it as a joke,” Jon spoke up, rubbing circles on his shoulders.

“The Lads?”

“Michael, Jeremy, and Gavin,” Ryan explained, taking a deep breath and relaxing his shoulders. “You’re probably right, I just hate it when people can get into my room when I’m sleeping.”

“Well if it was the lads it just says that you trust them, at least subconsciously,” Jon said, before hopping off the counter and walking to the fridge. “Do you think that Geoff has enough ingredients to make everyone mac and cheese and sandwiches. And did he remember to get my gluten-free ingredients?”

“Yes, yes, and probably?” Ryan said, already pulling out a ridiculously large pot. Steve helped them make lunch, Elyse, Alfredo, and Nova all coming in to help at a variety of different points. Within forty-five minutes everyone was waiting in the dining room while they all brought out their lunch, as well as a variety of fruit bowls and vegetable platters.

Everyone was sitting with people from a mix of crews, feeling more comfortable with getting to know each other and share stories from the last several years of their crews. Steve got caught up in a conversation with Gavin and Michael as they told him about one of their more insane heists. 

“So then, we decided our only way out was via the water. But this idiot forgot to get a boat at the dock. So we’re standing there with bags of money and the cops closing in on us and we decide, alright fuck it. We jumped into a little rowboat that was already there. We started paddling like crazy and I think the cops let us go just because we were such a pathetic pair.” Michael told the story with a lot of waving arms.

“I can’t believe they just let you get away. I also can’t believe that you didn’t just Pirates of the Carribean it.”

“That’s what I wanted! But Michael said no.” Gavin was pouting, but clearly still having a good time.

“Let me tell you about Nova and my stupidest getaway,” Aleks leaned forward with a smirk. “It totally tops that. So a few years ago the two of us made a huge pull with a plan to meet up at the top of Mount Chiliad. We made it to the top and we realized that one of the smaller crews was up there celebrating something or another. They all immediately recognized us so we had to get out fast. Now they had set up a couple of paragliders.”

“Oh my god you didn’t,” Steve said staring in awe.

“Yep, I covered James’ ass while he psyched himself up to jump off a cliff while just holding onto a small bar. As soon as he launched I jumped off and landed on top of his glider. It wasn’t quite a glide down and more of a barely controlled fall. But we landed alive and with all our loot.”

“You guys are fucking insane,” Gavin said with a gleam of admiration in his eyes. Aleks smirked again before leaning back.

“Alright, guys!” Geoff was standing on his table and yelling. “I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that you all have absolutely unrestricted access to the property. We have a barn with some horses out to the west of the house. Up north we have the lake. I think we have jet skis up there as well as some paddleboards. You all have fun and just be back in time for dinner! Jack and I are making steaks.”

Everyone cheered loudly and split off to a variety of places. James, Cib, and Steve all ended up in their bedroom, pulling on their swim trunks under their shorts.

“So what are you guys thinking? Pool? Back to the lake? Or maybe finding those horses?”

“I think if we go to the lake while it’s warm and we have jet skis could be fun,” James said.

“Yeah, the pool you can just swim from point A to point B. At least in the lake, we can all have fun with some of the other crews. We need to build better relationships with these guys.” Cib said in a surprisingly serious way.

“Cib, I hate it when you’re being serious. But you’re right, let’s go have fun with them all.” Steve said, standing up and pulling on his flip flops. They all grabbed their beach towels meeting up with Fakehaus and Nova, Bot, and Brett. Together the eleven of them made their way down to the lake, laughing and chatting the whole way.

For the rest of the afternoon, Steve didn’t think about the strange feelings he and some of the others had been feeling all day. That is until that evening when they all were walking back to the mansion in the dark.

“Why doesn’t this path have any god damn lights?” Nova bitched as they all were holding their phones up as flashlights.

“Do we really need them? I mean we have flashlights with us wherever we go.” Bruce pointed out.

“But my phone is gonna die!”

“We have at least eight other phones, chill out,” Brett said, rolling his eyes.

“Fuck!” Cib had been lagging behind but he suddenly was right in the middle of the group.

“What? What the fuck happened?” Steve asked, looking behind them.

“I, I thought I saw a wolf or something.” Cib refused to leave Angel’s side as he looked behind them.

“Where?” The whole group started looking around but refusing to leave the safety of the group. After a few moments of them watching and standing without anything happening they finally started moving towards the mansion again. This time they were a little quieter and a little faster.

When they finally made it back to the mansion, all of them feeling far too stressed for this vacation.

“Cannonball!” Cib yelled, breaking the silence as he ran at the pool and jumped in. Everyone laughed as half of them followed his lead. In the light of the mansion, the stress bled away. They all climbed out of the pool, laughing the whole time with a lighter mood.

“You assholes all need to be dry before you sit down for dinner!” Geoff called from the door with a grin before he ducked back inside. Everyone walked towards the house, still laughing. Steve hesitated for a second before he followed, staring at the woods surrounding him with a growing sense of unease before he walked into the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you liked this chapter leave me a comment or a kudos!!


	3. Chapter 3

Geoff dropped down onto the bed next to Jack, burying his face into the pillow.

“You still upset about Pine and Chop?”

“Yeah, we fucked up didn’t we,” Geoff rolled his head over to look at Jack.

“Probably, but it didn’t occur to us before that this would fuck them up like that. You know, I’ve been immortal for centuries, just like Ryan. For us we’ve been dying for years, it’s not traumatic anymore.”

“Yeah, I don’t remember my first few deaths anymore. We’re going to need to grovel to them for years.”

“Probably, but just give them their space this trip, ok?”

“Yeah yeah ok,” Geoff sat still for a second before rolling over and grabbing his book to read. The two of them laid next to each other in silence as they relaxed in each other's company. After an hour though they heard a loud crash followed by a shriek.

They both launched to their feet and ran to the kitchen where they heard the noise. As soon as they got out there they saw Jon standing over a broken pitcher and leaning against the counter.

“Jon, what the fuck?”

“Sorry,” Jon pointed at the fridge where a clown on a spring was hanging out. “Someone booby-trapped the fridge and it scared me.”

“You ok?” Ryan asked, stepping over the broken glass to pull his boyfriend into his arms.

“I’m fine Rye, just startled.” Jon leaned into him for a second before bending over to grab the glass. “I’ll be in in a few minutes ok?”

“Alright,” Ryan pressed a kiss to his forehead before moving back towards their room. Geoff and Jack followed him back into their wing.

“I wonder who did it?” Geoff asked, leaning against the wall next to Ryan and Jon’s room.

“Probably the lads, they stole one of my knives earlier.”

“If they do this to either Pine or Chop they’re gonna be very dead very quickly.”

“Oh yeah,” Ryan looked back at the door that led through the dining room and to the kitchen. “Did Jon seem, off to you guys?”

“Not really, he seemed startled but not much weirder than normal.” Jack said, “Don’t worry so much Ryan.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

Geoff stood in the hallway for a second before he walked with Jack into their bedroom. They climbed back into their bed and picked up their books again. Half an hour later they both drifted off together.

The next morning they woke up to the sound of someone banging pots and pans together in the kitchen. 

“Fuck it’s too god damn early for this shit.” Geoff bitched even as he crawled out of bed to investigate. As soon as he set foot in the kitchen a steaming cup of coffee was shoved into his hands by Ryan as he left the kitchen and he could smell a huge batch of pancakes and eggs.

“Morning Geoff,” Brett said from his position at the stove. “Do you want to make the fruit?”

“Morning Brett,” Geoff glanced around and saw a bunch of fruit next to a cutting board. “Just cut the fruit?”

“Yeah,” Brett studied him for a second before giving him a smile. “Aleks and James are pissed as fuck at you. But I get it I guess. You needed to find a way to test our loyalty, was it a bad plan, hell yeah. But there was a good result, we’re never gonna lose each other again.”

“Thanks, Brett,” Geoff set down his coffee and picked up a knife. “What do I need to do to earn your crew’s forgiveness.”

“Well,” Brett flipped a pancake before turning to look at him. “Aleks and James can hold grudges like no one’s business. Trevor is so young he might forgive you a little easier, taking his cues from me. Alec is already on your side because he wasn’t in our crew when he got his immortality. Lindsey and I are ready to trust you but you have to earn it from Aleks and James before we will. Just stop murdering them.”

“Yeah, that would probably help wouldn’t it.” Geoff finished cutting up the bowl of strawberries before turning to cut up a watermelon. “Well, then can I trust you to make sure that I don’t cross any lines.”

“Sure, but remember they’re my partners and I’ll protect them over anyone or anything else.”

“Got it,” Geoff glanced at the pancakes. “Did you happen to make gluten-free ones for Jon?”

“Yeah, there’s a stack of them in the oven, along with the eggs. Everything will be ready in about five minutes.”

“Alright,” Geoff put all the fruit in their own bowls before walking towards the main room after stopping at a counter to grab a huge dinner bell. “You may want to cover your ears.”

Brett covered his ears and Geoff rang the bell before shouting,

“Wake the fuck up everyone! It’s time for breakfast!” 

Within seconds they could hear everyone else yelling back. Geoff walked over to the three coffee makers and made sure everything was full. By the time everyone came down everything was ready.

Half of the crews were in their PJs and the other half look like they were ready for the day. Everyone grabbed their food buffet style before gathering in the dining room. 

“Alright!” Geoff stood up on the table as everyone was slowing down. “If anyone would like to come I’m going to go on a horseback ride through the property. Open invitations we have a dozen horses so only twelve can come.”

“James, Lawrence, and I wanna come,” Adam said.

“Trevor and I will go,” Alec said, bumping Trevor’s shoulder with his own.

“You know I think that would be fun,” Meg said, looking at Barb and Fiona who both nodded at her.

“We’ll go too!” Parker said, lacing his fingers with Jeremy’s.

“Well, I wanna go back to the lake, anyone else?” Cib said. Aleks, Jack, Lindsay, Gavin, Elyse, and Jon all raised their hands. 

“Alright! Everyone who’s horseback riding meet me out back in an hour.” Geoff smiled at everyone before climbing off the table and heading to his wing.

Everyone scattered throughout the house to get ready for another day at their personal resort.

An hour later everyone who was going horseback riding was out back in their old jeans and shoes that they were willing to ruin on their ride. They all walked down the path to the stables where Geoff started introducing everyone to the horses.

“Ok, I’ll be riding Flynt Coal today,” Geoff patted the side of a pitch-black horse. “The others are Dick Gayson, Apple Jack, Butterscotch, Randy Newman, Garbo, Sugar Cube, Vern, Newt, Pubert, and Detective Rodger Davis.”

Everyone looked at each other before running for the horse of their choice. After a bit of fighting everyone had a horse saddled up and ready to ride. 

Gun show was on Dick Gayson, Lawrence had Apple Jack, Adam had Butterscotch, Trevor was with Nandy Rewman while Alec had Garbo, Meg had Sugar Cube, Barb and Fiona had Vern and Newt, and Parker and Jeremy had Pubert and Rodger Davis.

Geoff led the group out into the woods where he started to give them a tour of the property.

“So we’re going to keep following this path which is going to take us to the original house that was on the property. It’s an old log cabin that’s been here for hundreds of years. Back then we used to use it as a safe house when we needed time off. This whole area was full of woods not just the 1000 acres we preserved.”

“Wait the property is 1.5 square miles?” Adam asked.

“Yeah, it used to be more. But a huge part of that is going to be the lake. Regardless this was our cabin when it was just me, Jack, and Gav.”

“Do you ever miss those days?” Meg asked, “before the rest of us showed up to run your life.”

“Well, it sure was easier back then before you fucks showed up.” Geoff barked out a laugh before his gaze turned soft. “But I wouldn’t trade the syndicate for anything.”

“Well good cause you’re stuck with us,” Fiona said with a grin. “You’re never getting rid of me.”

“Even if I wanted to I don’t think I’d be able to get rid of you.” Geoff tugged his horse to the side. “So if we go this way we’ll be able to circle the lake and then head back to the house.”

Everyone fell back into line behind him, listening to him when he brought up something specific about the area.

“Hey Geoff, have you all been here as long as you guys have been a crew?”

“Basically. This island was where Burnie, Gus, Matt, Joel, and myself all first met up. It was so long ago I don’t remember the details, but we all got into business together. We made this a place where the immortal people of the world could all come here and not worry about being experimented on. I remember we actually rescued a Ryan and Trevor from an ‘immortal lake’. A long time ago some people found out they were immortal and they threw the two of them into the lake with heavy rocks tied to their necks. They still don’t know for sure how long they were down there, they won’t talk about it even now.” Geoff studied the lake for a second. “They didn’t talk for so long we worried there was long term damage to them physically. When they finally did start talking we couldn’t get them to shut up. But we wouldn’t want it any other say.”

“Who’s the oldest?”

“Oh Ryan for sure, then TreyCo, Meg, and Alfredo,” Geoff said.

“Actually,” Meg pipped up from the group. “I’m older than TreyCo and Alfredo. Not by much but by enough.”

“Damn, I didn’t think you all had been around that long,” Trevor said looking at Meg with a new understanding.

“Yeah, I think Ryan was a Roman centurion in like 100 BC, I was a roman elite,” Meg said, rubbing the side of her horse's neck. 

“Yeah, Gavin was a plague victim, Michael was a revolutionary war soldier, Jack was in France during the french revolution, I died towards the end of the hundred-year war, Jeremy is younger because he died in the nineteen nineteen molasses tragedy,” Geoff said. “I won’t tell you anyone else's ages, I have permission from those eight to tell anyone. If you want to ask anyone else feel free to.

“Man we’re babies to you aren’t we,” Trevor studied him for a second as Geoff pulled them to a stop on the side of the lake.

“Yeah, you really are,” Geoff said, turning to look at him. “But at the same time, you grow and change a lot better and faster than us old fucks.”

“Can you tell us more about the Founding Fathers?” Lawrence asked, eyes bright.

“Sure,” Geoff pulled them to a stop at the edge of the lake. “When I first came here with Jack I met Burnie and Gus first. Both of them were old immortals, who had big plans for this island. They introduced me to Matt, a younger immortal who had been through hell to get there. The last one was Joel, an ancient immortal who didn’t trust anyone easily. We all started working together, finding immortals and bringing them here.”

“Why is it such a crime city and why isn’t everyone immortal right away?” Parker asked.

“Well, not every immortal who came over was a good person, and several of them brought mortals as cannon fodder. Or for entertainment. And then because we somehow made this island a crime island it started to draw in military personnel, corrupt politicians, and evil business people. They all were mortals who drew in more mortals. We couldn’t keep the city as just immortals anymore but it helped us to find others who were good candidates for immortality.”

“But you don’t get to pick immortals, if not every immortal knows each other,” Adam stated.

“No,” Geoff let out a rough sigh. “We don’t really understand how it works, but we can always tell when someone is a new immortal. Fake Chop all became immortal at the same time before we killed them. Fake Pine we discovered a few weeks before we abducted you guys. We can tell but we don’t make the decision.”

“That sucks, it would make everything easier if you got to pick and choose.”

“Only if we were the only ones,” Geoff pointed out. “If any of the other immortals, the Corpirate especially got to choose as well it would be a bloodbath constantly.”

“Hey, guys!” They heard a quiet voice call. Everyone looked over across the lake and saw a group of their friends at the beach. Everyone waved while they sat there and enjoyed the view, thinking about what they have all learned.

“Alright, I’m starving,” Barb said. “Time to head back for lunch.”

“Agreed,” Geoff studied them for a second. “How many of you think you can ride a galloping horse?”

Everyone raised their hands. Geoff sat forward in his saddle and pushed his horse into running. Everyone followed and they quickly made it back to the stable. 

“Thanks for coming out with me guys,” Geoff said as he put the last horse away.

“It was fun Geoff!” Adam said as he stretched. “I could use a long soak in the pool though. I stink and hurt.”

“Yeah, we’re all gonna need showers before lunch,” Meg gave an exaggerated sniff of herself.

“Last one back has to jump off the roof into the pool,” Parker said before he booked it for the house, Meg and Gunshow right on his heels. Geoff was the last one back to the house but just barely.

“Fuck!” Geoff panted as he stopped in front of the house. He grinned and looked up at the roof. “The last one to do this was Michael after Gavin and Lindsay bet him a million dollars he wouldn’t.”

“Well I can’t wait to see you do it,” Alec said, leaning against the wall struggling for breath.

“I’ll do it now if you want to get everyone together,” Geoff walked over to a ladder against the wall. Everyone else scattered throughout the house and the property to find everyone. Within five minutes everyone was gathered around the pool and Geoff was on the roof.

“Alright, mother fuckers! Are you ready for this?!” Geoff yelled.

“Ten bucks says he doesn’t even make it to the pool,” Brett said quietly.

“Ten,” Aleks, Lil’ J, and Fiona said.

“Ten that he won’t,” Cib said.

“Cannonball!” Geoff screamed before he jumped off. He slammed into the water much to the disappointment of Brett and Cib. He climbed out of the water and shook his head vigorously. 

“Alright, you eleven who went horseback riding go take a shower you stink.” Jack made a shooing motion with his hands before he turned to everyone else. “Who wants to help with lunch?”

Brett, Jon, Nova, and TreyCo all volunteered while everyone else scattered. Geoff felt a little thrill at the fact that some members of Fake Chop had started opening up a little. Geoff went to his wing and peeled off his wet clothes before climbing into the shower. 

After his shower, he felt warm and refreshed, ready to spend the afternoon laying out with a book. He walked out to the kitchen and was greeted with the amazing smells of several kinds of soup. 

“Smells amazing Jack,” Geoff came up behind him and wrapped his arms around Jack’s waist.

“We have a surprisingly talented group of chefs in the syndicate.”

“We don’t trust Aleks in the kitchen after he made basically a liquor pie and we all got very drunk before a heist.”

“Rude!” Aleks called from the living room where he was playing video games with Alfredo, Burnie, and Meg.

“Rude but true!” Nova called back before turning back to his soup.

“Do we want to do this buffet style or should I go set the tables,” Geoff asked.

“Let's do it buffet so that everyone can get their favorite soups.”

“Roger that,” Geoff moved over to one of the cupboards and pulled out a bunch of bowls. The chefs arranged the soup pots in a line on the stove with the bowls next to it while Geoff pulled out the dinner bell again.

“If you can hear me now cover your ears,” Geoff waited for ten seconds before he rang the bell. 

“Jesus,” Aleks said, pulling his hands off of his ears. “That’s so fucking loud.”

“Yeah, It is isn’t it.” Geoff grinned at his bell before putting it away. Everyone in the living room and kitchen scooped up their own bowls of soup and moved into the dining room.

“Alfredo, how do you kick so much ass in that game?” Aleks asked as soon as he sat down.

“I’ve had years to perfect it,” Alfredo said with a self-satisfied grin. “So many years.”

“Well, it’s clearly paid off.”

“Thanks, but you’re not half bad yourself. You almost wiped me out last time.”

“What’s up, motherfuckers!” Michael yelled as he slammed down into his own seat.

“Alfredo is too fucking good at video games that’s what.”

“Hey Fredo,” Parker said as he sat down. “Have you ever been to that old house out east of us?”

“The original house? I know a little bit about it but I haven’t been in years.”

“I wanna go explore it after lunch if we can,” Parker glanced at Geoff, only to receive a vague hand wave. 

“Yeah, TreyCo and I can take you. Anyone else want to come?”

“I’m interested, count me in,” Lawrence says from down the table.

“Alright, we can go right after lunch then.”

“Speaking of afternoon plans,” Nova cut in. “I’m super interested in your huge movie room and spending the afternoon watching as many movies as I can.”

“Hell yeah!” Cib said, pumping his fist in the air.

“I’m going to spend my afternoon reading a book by the pool,” Geoff said.

Everyone else split themselves up between crews and friend groups into their various afternoon plans. Most everyone was just spending the afternoon relaxing and resting. 

“You guys be back in time for dinner ok?” Geoff said as he watched the exploration group walk past.

“We will be!” Alfredo said as he waved goodbye. Geoff grinned after them and turned back to his book. After an hour though, Geoff nodded off on his book and spent the rest of the afternoon napping outside. 

When Geoff woke up he was pleased to find that someone had put his book on the side table and put an umbrella over him. He sat up and stretched out his back, groaning when his back popped. He pulled himself to his feet and wandered into the house. He realized pretty quickly that it was almost dinner time based on the smells coming from the kitchen.

“Hey, good lookin’, What’s cookin?” Geoff asked as he leaned on the counter looking at Jack.

“A surprise, go bother someone else,” Jack waved him towards the group on the couches. Geoff grinned before he spun on his heels and walked over to the couches. He saw Aleks and Nova on one couch and Gavin and Michael on the other. He walked to the side of Gavin and Michael’s couch and jumped onto it, laying across their laps.

“Whatcha playin’?” Geoff asked knocking Gavin’s controller out of his hands.

“Geoff!! Get the fuck off!” Michael tried to squirm out from under him while still trying to maintain his lead in their GTA Race. 

“Nope!” Geoff flung an arm up into Michael's face and laughed.

“C’mon! C’mon! Yes!” Nova jumped up and launched his controller into the air as he crossed the finish line.

“Fuck!” Michael yelled slumping back in defeat. “Fuck you, Geoff, I almost won.”

“Oh well, better luck next time,” Geoff said, rolling off of them and onto the floor. “Room for one more?”

“Sure,” Aleks tossed him a spare controller with a small smile. “I wanna kick your ass in GTA.” 

“You’re on!” Geoff settled down into the side chair and loaded into the game. They had two TVs with two different XBoxes going so Geoff loaded into Michael and Gavin’s consol. They played two different races before dinner was ready. 

“I’m fucking starved!” Geoff climbed over the couch to get to the dining room faster. Michael and Aleks followed him while Nova walked around and Gavin fell off the side of the couch.

“What did you make?” Gavin asked as he scrambled up off of the floor. 

“We made steak, mashed potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, so many salads, roasted vegetables, and cakes and pies for dessert,” Jack answered as he carried one of the giant bowls of salad into the dining room.

“You all are spoiling me today,” Geoff gave Jack a quick hug before grabbing the salad from his hands and bringing it into the dining room.

“Thanks, Geoff,” Jack grabbed a second salad and followed him.

“Everything smells amazing,” Nova said, sitting down.

“Can I ring the dinner bell?” Aleks asked, standing by the door. 

“In exactly ten seconds you can.” Geoff covered his ears as he said that. Aleks grinned and walked back into the kitchen. Ten seconds later the bell rang out loud and clear. Geoff laughed before he started filling his own plate.

“What, you’re not going to wait for everyone else?” Nova asked even as he started filling his plate. 

“Nah, I want the good meat. If I wait for everyone else I won’t have any good meat left.”

“Good point.”

Everyone else at the table got their food piled onto their plates. By the time they had their food the rest of the syndicate had made it into the dining room and were chatting loudly. Geoff joined into a conversations Brett and Burnie were having about the merits of different escape vehicles

“While a motorcycle gives you the extra maneuverability a car has more protection,” Burnie said.

“However have you ever considered the possibility of using a bike to escape. Just a plain old bike?” Geoff asked.

“I have not and I will never,” Brett said as he stared at Geoff in horror.

“You’d be surprised at the number of times that worked over how many times it didn’t. There were several times where we made a completely clean getaway on nothing but bikes.”

“Does several mean three?” Burnie asked, shoving his shoulder lightly.

“It means I can think of at least six off the top of my head.”

“Hey, Geoff?” Ryan sat down next to him.

“What’s up Ry?”

“Well, I can’t find TreyCo or Fredo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have no good explanation for my Long Wait between Chapters but hey look here's a new one! Enjoy! Comments and Kudos are my lifeblood!

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are amazing I love you all! <3 <3 <3


End file.
